Thursday, 29 July 2010

Day 66 Cody to Newton Creek

We had another leisurely morning and enjoyed a lovely cooked breakfast with our hosts. They drove us back into town where our bikes had been kept at the tourist information centre. Kathy kindly printed off some business cards for us with the details of our blog and that we are raising money for cancer research so that we can hand them out to all the people we chat to as so far we have had to scribble it down on any scrap of paper we can find. As we left we had our picture taken with the boss of the centre and Kathy will be writing a piece to be published in their next newsletter.

It would have not been possible to make it all the way to the first campground inside the park in one day so we had to split it up into two days. We wanted to get as far as the East Gate to the park but the campground 3 miles from the entrance has banned tents due to grizzly bear activity. So we had to stay at Newton Creek which is slightly lower in elevation and so the grizzlies don’t seem to venture this far down the mountain at this time of year due to the heat.

We left Cody and were thrilled to experience an Easterly wind so with the wind to our back we were flying along! We had to pass through 3 tunnels that were lit but one in particular was long and had no hard shoulder so be bombed it through which was a bit hair raising! On the other side we were greeted by the reservoir that supplies Cody with water and it was huge and bright blue. We were busy absorbing all the scenery when Kathy turned up with her friend and they offered to drive up to the campground and reserve it for us on our behalf as there is always a problem with sites being full before noon. They kindly did so and it was a good job as there were only a handful of sites left! Thanks, and you chose a great spot near the creek and the loo!

As we continued the road was really quite flat with only a few climbs and the river ran right along side us all the way to the campground. As we approached the campground the wind actually turned and was in our face so we were pleased to be stopping where we did. As we rolled up Dave came over to chat to us to say we were welcome to join his friends and family at their site for BBQ dinner and beers! We headed straight for the creek and Kris jumped off the rocks while it took me a good hour to wade right in as it was freezing but so beautiful!

We also met Chris who has motorcycled from Toronto and after a short chat we learned that he is camping at Bridge Bay tomorrow which was our intention so he said we could share his site that he has already reserved, thanks! We joined Dave for several beers and the most delicious dinner cooked at a campfire ever! We had pork and beef, beans, salad, cheesy bread, green beans and of course toasted marshmallows for desert! We had a lovely evening and stayed up until midnight round the fire in picturesque surroundings, perfect.